Quick Action

by Robert W. Chambers

  XXVIII

  She seemed to be still more startled when she saw him: her blue eyesdilated; the colour which had ebbed came back, suffusing her prettyfeatures. But when she recognised him, fear, dismay, astonishment, andanxiety blended in swift confusion, leaving her silent, crimson, rootedto the spot.

  White took off his hat and walked up to where she stood.

  "I'm sorry, Miss Sandys," he said. "Only a few hours ago did I learn whoit was camping here on the Causeway. And--I'm afraid I know why you arehere.... Because the same reason that brought you started me the nextday."

  She had recovered her composure. She said very gravely:

  "I wondered when I saw you reading Valdez whether, by any possibility,you might think of coming here. And when you bought the other copy I wasstill more afraid.... But I had already secured an option on my lots."

  "I know it," he said, chagrined.

  "Were you," she inquired, "the client of Mr. Munsell who tried to buyfrom me the other half of Lot 210?"

  "Yes."

  "I wondered. But of course I would not sell it. What lots have youbought?"

  "I took No. 200 to the northern half of No. 210."

  "Why?" she asked, surprised.

  "Because," he said, reddening, "my calculations tell me that this givesme ample margin."

  She looked at him in calm disapproval, shaking her head; but her blueeyes softened.

  "I'm sorry," she said. "You have miscalculated, Mr. White. The spot liessomewhere within the plot numbered from half of 210 to 220."

  "I am very much afraid that _you_ have miscalculated, Miss Sandys. I didnot even attempt to purchase your plot--except half of 210."

  "Nor did I even consider _your_ plot, Mr. White," she said sorrowfully,"and I had my choice. Really I am very sorry for you, but you have madea complete miscalculation."

  "I don't see how I could. I worked it out from the Valdez map."

  "So did I."

  She had the volume under her arm; he had his in his pocket.

  "Let me show you," he began, drawing it out and opening it. "Would youmind looking at the map for a moment?"

  Her dainty head a trifle on one side, she looked over his shoulder as heunfolded the map for her.

  "Here," he said, plucking a dead grass stem and tracing the Causeway onthe map, "here lie my lots--including, as you see, the spot marked byValdez with a Maltese cross.... I'm sorry; but how in the world couldyou have made your mistake?"

  He turned to glance at the girl and saw her amazement and misunderstoodit.

  "It's too bad," he added, feeling profoundly sorry for her.

  "Do you know," she said in a voice quivering with emotion, "that a veryterrible thing has happened to us?"

  "To _us_?"

  "To _both_ of us. I--we--oh, please look at my map! It is--it isdifferent from yours!"

  With nervous fingers she opened the book, spread out the map, and heldit under his horrified eyes.

  "Do you see!" she exclaimed. "According to _this_ map, my lots includethe Maltese cross of Valdez! I--I--p-please excuse me----" She turnedabruptly and entered her tent; but he had caught the glimmer of suddentears in her eyes and had seen the pitiful lips trembling.

  On his own account he was sufficiently scared; now it flashed upon himthat this plucky young thing had probably spent her last penny on thechance that Bangs had told the truth about "The Journal of PedroValdez."

  That the two maps differed was a staggering blow to him; and his kneesseemed rather weak at the moment, so he sat down on his unpacked tentand dropped his face in his palms.

  Lord, what a mess! His last cent was invested; hers, too, no doubt. Hehadn't even railroad fare North. Probably she hadn't either.

  He had gambled and lost. There was scarcely a chance that he had notlost. And the same fearful odds were against her.

  "The poor little thing!" he muttered, staring at her tent. And after amoment he sprang to his feet and walked over to it. The flap was open;she sat inside on a camp-chair, her red head in her arms, doubled overin an attitude of tragic despair.

  "Miss Sandys?"

  She looked up hastily, the quick colour dyeing her pale cheeks, herlong, black lashes glimmering with tears.

  "Do you mind talking it over with me?" he asked.

  "N-no."

  "May I come in?"

  "P-please."

  He seated himself cross-legged on the threshold.

  "There's only one thing to do," he said, "and that is to go ahead. Wemust go ahead. Of course the hazard is against us. Let us face thechance that Bangs was only a clever romancer. Well, we've alreadydiscounted that. Then let us face the discrepancy in our two maps. It'sbad, I'll admit. It almost knocks the last atom of confidence out of me.It has floored you. But you must not take the count. You must get up."

  He paused, looking around him with troubled eyes; then somehow the sightof her pathetic figure--the soft, helpless youth of her--suddenlyseemed to prop up his back-bone.

  "Miss Sandys, I am going to stand by you anyway! I suppose, like myself,you have invested your last dollar in this business?"

  "Y-yes."

  He glanced at the pick, shovel and spade in the corner of her tent, thenat her hands.

  "Who," he asked politely, "was going to wield these?"

  She let her eyes rest on the massive implements of honest toil, thenlooked confusedly at him.

  "I was."

  "Did you ever try to dig with any of these things?"

  "N-no. But if I _had_ to do it I knew I could."

  He said, pleasantly: "You have all kinds of courage. Did you bring ashot-gun?"

  "Yes."

  "Do you know how to load and fire it?"

  "The clerk in the shop instructed me."

  "You are the pluckiest girl I ever laid eyes on.... You camped here allalone last night, I suppose?"

  "Yes."

  "How about it?" he asked, smilingly. "Were you afraid?"

  She coloured, cast a swift glance at him, saw that his attitude wasperfectly respectful and sympathetic, and said:

  "Yes, I was horribly afraid."

  "Did anything annoy you?"

  "S-something bellowed out there in the swamp----" She shudderedunaffectedly at the recollection.

  "A bull-alligator," he remarked.

  "What?"

  "Yes," he nodded, "it is terrifying, but they let you alone. I onceheard one bellow on the Tomoka when I was a boy."

  After a while she said with tremulous lips:

  "There seem to be snakes here, too."

  "Didn't you expect any?"

  "Mr. Munsell said there were not any."

  "Did he?"

  "Not," she explained resolutely, "that the presence of snakes would havedeterred me. They frighten me terribly, but--I would have come just thesame."

  "You are sheer pluck," he said.

  "I don't know.... I am very poor.... There seemed to be a chance.... Itook it----" Tears sprang to her eyes again, and she brushed them awayimpatiently.

  "Yes," she said, "the only way is to go on, as you say, Mr. White.Everything in the world that I have is invested here."

  "It is the same with me," he admitted dejectedly.

  They looked at each other curiously for a moment.

  "Isn't it strange?" she murmured.

  "Strange as 'The Journal of Valdez.'... I have an idea. I wonder whatyou might think of it."

  She waited; he reflected for another moment, then, smiling:

  "This is a perfectly rotten place for you," he said. "You could not domanual labour here in this swamp under a nearly vertical sun and keepyour health for twenty-four hours. I've been in Trinidad. I know alittle about the tropics and semi-tropics. Suppose you and I form acompany?"

  "What?"

  "Call it the Valdez Company, or the Association of the Maltese Cross,"he continued cheerfully. "You will do the cooking, washing, housekeepingfor two tents, and the mending. I will do the digging and thedynamiting. And we'll go ahead doggedly,
and face this thing and see itthrough to the last ditch. What do you think of it? Your claim asplotted out is no more, no less, valuable than mine. Both claims may beworthless. The chances are that they are absolutely valueless. But there_is_ a chance, too, that we might win out. Shall we try it together?"

  She did not answer.

  "And," he continued, "if the Maltese cross happens to be included withinmy claim, I share equally with you. If it chances to lie within yourclaim, perhaps I might ask a third----"

  "Mr. White!"

  "Yes?"

  "You will take _two_ thirds!"

  "What?"

  "_Two_ thirds," she repeated firmly, "because your heavier labourentitles you to that proportion!"

  "My dear Miss Sandys, you are unworldly and inexperienced in yourgenerosity----"

  "So are you! The idea of your modestly venturing to ask a _third_! Andoffering me a _half_ if the Maltese cross lie inside your own territory!That is not the way to do business, Mr. White!"

  She had become so earnest in her admonition, so charmingly emphatic,that he smiled in spite of himself.

  She flushed, noticing this, and said: "Altruism is a luxury in businessmatters; selfishness of the justifiable sort a necessity. Who will lookout for your interests if you do not?"

  "_You_ seem to be doing it."

  Her colour deepened: "I am only suggesting that you do not make afoolish bargain with me."

  "Which proves," he said, "that you are not much better at business thanam I. Otherwise you'd have taken me up."

  "I'm a very good business woman," she insisted, warmly, "but I'm toomuch of the other kind of woman to be unfair!"

  "Commercially," he said, "we both are sadly behind the times. To-day theworld is eliminating its appendix; to-morrow it will be operated on foranother obsolete and annoying appendage. I mean its conscience," headded, so seriously that for a moment her own gravity remainedunaltered. Then, like a faint ray of sunlight, across her face the smileglimmered. It was a winning smile, fresh and unspoiled as the lips ittouched.

  "You _will_ take half--won't you?" she asked.

  "Yes, I will. Is it a bargain?"

  "If you care to make it so, Mr. White."

  He said he did, and they shook hands very formally. Then he went outand pitched his tent beside hers, set it in order, lugged up theremainder of his equipment, buried the jars of spring water, and,entering his tent, changed to flannel shirt, sun-helmet, and khaki.